Blink is the sister brand of the Amazon-owned Ring but is designed to be a more affordable option for those who want to secure their homes with cameras without breaking the bank.

Blink sent us the Blink Outdoor 4 camera to review. At just $149, we were sceptical about how good it could be, but then there are Ring cameras at that price, too. It turns out the Outdoor 4 is quite good, borrowing many of its features from its older, more mature sibling, the Ring security cameras.

The design is different.  It’s a black box, that’s about it.  Now, I don’t hate it, but there are no options for a white version, so you are stuck with the black, and if that doesn’t fit your house decor and colours, then too bad.  Suck it up.  I did, and to be honest, after a week or so, you forget it’s there – even my wife took a while to notice it and then didn’t mention it again (which is unusual given the number of review products that spring up around the house without her knowledge).

The front has the lens in the top corner of the camera, and the batteries are inserted in the rear of the camera. Yes, you heard me right—batteries. The camera runs on just a couple of AA batteries (not included), which should last up to two years thanks to Blink’s “custom-built proprietary chip,” designed to save power.

The Blink 4 camera needs a Sync Module (included), which is the Blink System’s hub and allows your cameras to be connected to your Wi-Fi. One advantage of the Blink 4 over Ring cameras is its ability to store videos locally. To do this, insert a USB drive into the Sync Module and direct the storage to this USB in the app’s settings.

The Sync Module can connect up to 10 cameras to your Wi-Fi, so once you buy one camera, you can choose the cheaper option of buying the camera without the module.

Installation and setup were super simple, even easier than Ring cameras, of which I have set up quite a few.  A couple of screws through the base, click the camera onto the base, and you are good to go. You can also purchase a water-resistant power adapter to plug the camera into a power socket but given the fact that the batteries are meant to last for up to two years I’m not sure why you would ever do this. I’m comfortable changing a couple of AA batteries every year or two.

The app borrows heavily from the Ring app but is much simpler and doesn’t quite have the full feature set that comes with Ring cameras and their app. Setting up the camera was simple, though: Just add the camera to the app and follow the instructions.  

When setting up the camera, the app will walk you through the major features and settings and help you adjust them as you wish. You can also come back to the settings later if you wish. If you are a first-time user of Ring or Blink, I suggest you check out each setting as the app walks you through them.

Features

The Blink 4 Outdoor camera has all the basic security features you’d expect in 2025, including motion detection and person detection (although person detection requires a Blink subscription). It also allows you to change motion and privacy zones.

The Blink app’s settings allow users to change the length of the motion clip, the video quality, and the ability to turn night vision on or off.  

The camera also includes two-way talk, so it lacks little of the necessary functionality. Sure, it doesn’t have geofencing and a few other things that Ring includes, but the camera’s price is generally lower. The ability to use nearly every function and record locally without needing a subscription makes it an attractive option when considering security cameras for your home.

In the end, it does nothing fancy but the basics, and it does these basics well without making them overly complicated.  

The Blink 4 Outdoor records in 1080P only, but with this cheaper option, it is difficult to argue that 4K is warranted.

As you would expect from any Amazon product, the Blink Outdoor 4 camera includes Alexa support. This allows you to use the Alexa Blink Smart Home Skill to connect your Blink cameras to an Echo device and receive alerts, check live view on-demand, arm and disarm your camera, and more. I was able to use it with my Alexa displays, and it worked well, no different from that for Ring cameras.

Subscription

Blink subscriptions provide unlimited cloud recording, 60 days of unlimited cloud storage, live view recording, photo capture, and person detection. The advantage of a subscription is the ability to view your recordings remotely through the cloud recording option and notifications that will pop up on your phone.  

The subscription price is not cheap, which is par for the course. It really does not add much to the camera’s functionality, and it will cost you $4.95 per month per camera or $15 per month for unlimited cameras. This seems excessive, but it is the standard price for this type of subscription these days. I’d just expect more for my money from Blink.

Final thoughts

I’ve always been a big proponent of Ring camera, and my home setup is a testament to that. The Blink Outdoor 4 camera offers a cheaper option with less functionality, but still all the essential features, while adding in the ability to store video and snapshots locally on a USB device. This makes it a cheaper device than a Ring camera and with very few other cameras offering local storage these days, it is cheaper long-term.

There is the ability to view recordings remotely, but you will need a subscription for that. The subscription is very similarly priced to the Ring subscription so is not cheap. If you are going to go down the road of a subscription it may be in your interests to purchase Ring cameras or other brands instead, given they offer more options and types of cameras and more functionality.

Overall, the Blink Outdoor 4 security camera is a decent security camera for live viewing of your home with 1080P video and two-way talk. For many, this is all they need and for those that just want a basic security camera with notifications and local storage the Blink Outdoor 4 is perfect.

  • Blink Outdoor 4 is available in black starting at AU$149 bundled with a Blink Sync Module 2, and comes in one-, two-, three- or five-camera packs.
  • Blink Weather Resistant Power Adaptor is available in black and white for AU$19
  • A standalone Blink Sync Module 2 is available for AU$79. 
  • Blink’s Subscription Plans, Basic Monthly, Basic Annual, Plus Monthly and Plus Annual, are priced at AU$5, AU$49, AU$15 and AU$149 respectively.